Or friends, can you imagine the sensation of standing before a rabid dog, bent upon getting the frothy hydrophobinum, for the sole purpose of obtaining a remedy for healing the sick? How would you characterize the act-courageous, or not?
Does it not exhibit moral heroism to assert the truth of a scientific world? Scientists scoffed at the idea that the poisons he procured, and proved upon himself at the jeopardy of life had any remedial efficacy, because, forsooth, they had been preserved in alcohol Why, exclaimed they, we drench an individual with whiskey when bitten by the Crot., and it antidotes and prevents systemic poisoning, and saves the life of the patient Alcohol antidotes animal poison, therefore animal poisons preserved in alcohol are rendered harmless and inert; and from the deductions of such logic the world hooted at his provings, and cures, produced by the use of alcoholic preparations of his animal poisons, most notably Lachesis, of which he had asserted much. But he was patient, knowing whereof he had affirmed, and the scientific world, after experimenting, demonstrated that the hypodermic injection of even the 3rd centesimal of Lachesis, and even the still higher dilutions were destructive of animal life, and, after many other and varied experiments, it was publicly acknowledge that Hering was right, that animal poisons, preserved in alcohol, held still their poisonous qualities intact.
Again, think you it required no moral backbone to stand by the assertion that radiated heat was one of the most efficient agencies to antidote the poison in wounds, whatever their origin, when the world denied and disbelieved Mark the courage of the test A man (himself) with an inoculated arm (with venom from the fang of a rattlesnake) swollen, purple, throbbing, painful, threatening the loss of life, will not listen to the voice of friends and surgeons, but sits quietly down, in his kitchen, and thrusts his arm into the heated oven and holds it there until the poison is counteracted, or eliminated, and the member reserved for future usefulness, and now, the world, after experimenting, announces that radiated heat is antidotal to poisonous wounds. Hering was right again.
Still further, witness him walk with quiet dignity into the sickroom, where lies a girl in throes of severest agony, after the major operation of a lithotomy, and amidst the sneers of distinguished surgeons summoned in consultation, who had signally failed to mitigate her suffering, and had given her over to the king of terrors-see him solicit symptoms from the sick, and from his inexhaustible fund of knowledge, watch him pour a few pellets of Staphisagria (in a high attenuation) into water and administer it to the sufferer. To the gratification of the sick one and her friends, and to the amazement of the scoffers, the pain is mitigated, finally assuaged, and sleep comes gradually to restore strength, and a precious life is saved.
NOTE: (* In consequence of having called Dr.Hering, in whose prescriptions he had reason to have confidence from previous experience, to the case, the famous surgeon who had made the operation, was in danger of losing his membership and standing in the society of Old School physicians.
These are but a few striking instances which serve to illustrate the timber of the man, who, by courage and calm demeanor amid trying scenes and sacrifices, won public and private esteem, when Homoeopathy was not to the public what it is today, and forced the popular recognition of his system of healing, obtaining for it the sanction and protection of the civic law. It is now comparatively easy for the practitioner to dispense the blessings of an enlightened Homoeopathy, but what do we not owe to Father Hering, who, by his skill, patience and learning, and above all his moral courage, overcame the popular ignorance and prejudice, so that it has passed into a proverb, that Homoeopathy cannot flourish among the ignorant and unthinking, but numbers its adherents among the cultured, thoughtful and educated.
As a scholar and student Hering stands unrivalled in his time. He was authority in every branch of medicine, and so intimately was he acquainted, not only with medical, but kindred sciences, that his thoughts and utterances became books. His habits and methods were those of the student. Accustomed to rise very early in the morning, at three o’clock, he was wont to take a slice of zwieback and a cup of coffee or cocoa, when he would study and write until breakfast, at nine. After breakfast he would pursue his studies further, and attend to his professional duties till evening, when he would either pass the time in continued study, or converse with those who desired instruction. I believe it was his custom to retire about nine in the evening unless so occupied. He had preeminently the genius for hard and continuous study, and this systematic and arduous course he pursued up to the time of his demise.
The fruit of such labor is, of course, voluminous, and it is by authorship that he will be best known to posterity. He is the author of many books and monographs, and all of them are the acknowledged standards of our school. He devoted the greater portion of his studies to the proving of drugs, and he has enriched our Materia Medica more than any other author, Hahnemann not excepted. His Guiding Symptoms is characteristic, and no such full, complete and accurate work on Materia Medica was ever published. He esteemed it the crowning effort of his life. It is the fruit of advanced age, the product of a long life of rich and varied experience, united with the most profound research and learning.
One would naturally suppose that he would have fallen in with the prevailing system of German Philosophy, and that his works, like those of Grauvogl, would have been tinctured with theories founded upon philosophical speculation. But not so. He brought everything to the touchstone of scientific experiment, and he was wont to say There is no such thing as belief in science. A property or thing, is, or is not. His method was empirical; perhaps sciential would be the better word. It partook rather of the inductive system of philosophy than transcendentalism, which was to him a horrible word, which he gave with a prolonged, rough, guttural roll of the rrs.
Everything was subjected to trial, and if it did not stand the test of experiment, did not prove a literal fact, he never strove to bolster it up with a more plausible theory, but cast it off as one would a useless garment.
Just a year or two previous to death, while the writer, with a body of students sitting at his feet, as sat St. Paul at the feet of Gamaliel, he remarked: Well, gentlemen, to-day I have lost one of my best beloved children For more than twenty years I have been collecting facts and data to establish a pet theory of mine, and I was about to publish and give the results to the world, when today I have fully decided that it cannot stand the test of scientific experiment, and so I have buried it out of sight. Not without a pang, gentlemen; but, as my theory is not true, that is the end of it. His mind was both analytical and synthetical.
He was a tall man, sun-crowned in the light of knowledge; a man of capacious soul, gigantic brain, an intellect of colossal proportions. That which seemed veiled to other men was to him luminous with light, In his capacious mind truth alone was sought, discovered, seized upon, made incarnate and disseminated over sea, island and continent, till it became the common heritage. But it was as an instructor, or lecturer that he surpassed himself. Brimful, overflowing with knowledge he was just as eager to impart as to acquire. Give him respectful attention, and he would forsake every other duty and proceed to talk, or lecture without note of time, and I assure you he was as tireless as time itself. He has been known to forget fatigue and sit up all night to instruct some practitioner who wished either to be led into, or receive more light in the sublime degrees of Homoeopathy. Even in the last years of his life his eye would kindle in the presence of a body of students, his mind unfold, and truth would come forth robed in beauty, and not till the long hours were passed and not even then, unless solicited to cease and rest, would he think of retiring. The totality of the symptoms, and the single remedy corresponding to that totality, were his two watchwords.
He was a kind and affectionate father and husband, a good citizen but a citizen of no particular country. He owed allegiance to the world.
More given to imparting knowledge and ameliorating the sufferings of the race than to the acquirement of wealth, he laid up for himself the true riches. He achieved more than fame-he was great. His kind and beneficent deeds, the truths he discovered and established, the sacrifices he made, and the arduous toil, guide us in the divine art of healing.
He died full of years, honored and respected by even his adversaries. A long life of usefulness has been spent. We are left with greater and undimmed lustre in a fairer and boundless horizon.
In 1878 and 1879 he published 2 editions of his book, Sunstroke and Its Homeopathic Treatment.
Upon Hering's death in 1880 Knerr became responsible for the completion of the 10-volume Guiding Symptoms.
Dr. Knerr wrote 2-volume Repertory to the Guiding Symptoms,